This invention relates to systems for blocking viewing or recording of television programs which exceed a ratings, spending limit, time restriction, or other viewing limitation set by a supervisor.
Video signal processing systems such as television tuners contained in television sets, video cassette recorders, or cable boxes which are suitable for coupling to a display device such as a picture tube and which contain circuitry and software designed to prevent viewing of programs containing ratings information below a level set by a supervisor, exceeding view time limits, and/or, in the case of pay-per-view systems, exceeding spending limits, are very well known. Such systems comprise a programmed processor which allows the supervisor with a password, usually a parent, to set limits which cause programs outside one or more of ratings, view time, or spending limits to be blocked and not viewable by the supervised person or group.
Ratings control is generally implemented by device or system that allows a supervisor to specify a rating limit, such as PG-13, and the processor in the television receiver containing a “stripper” (i.e., decoder) can “slice” (i.e., extract) auxiliary information from a program signal (e.g., Extended Data Services (XDS) data in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of an NTSC television signal in the United States or PSIP data in an ATSC television signal) and decode the information to determine the content and rating of television programs and scenes and can compare the content and rating to the limits set by the supervisor. Spending control is generally implemented by the processor comparing the cost of a pay-per-view broadcast to a spending limit set by the supervisor. The processor within the receiver utilizes a “stripper” which functions to slice, or extract, ratings information and spending information contained in the television signal for most broadcast programs and channels. The processor is designed to blank the screen and mute the audio portion of the broadcast for programs outside the limits set by the supervisor. For television receivers which also have multi-image display capability (e.g., for displaying a main image representing one program and an auxiliary image representing a second program such as picture-in-picture (PIP) or picture-outside-picture (POP) systems), the receiver must provide ratings control for both main and auxiliary programs if both main and auxiliary pictures are displayed and the supervisor has activated ratings control.
The supervisor may also set a limit on the total viewing time for a period such as a day, week, weekend day, and the like, by entering selections in a profile for the supervised person, in which case the system processor counts the accumulated time that a profile has access to the system and terminates access when the limit is reached.
Some existing systems use multiple profiles, for example a profile for a younger child, a second profile for an older child, and a third profile for the parents. Each profile may have a different ratings limit and pay-per-view spending limits.
With currently available technology, in situations where the supervisor wishes to permit viewing of a particular television broadcast when the supervised person or group is not present, for example if the children are asleep and the parents wish to watch an NC-17-rated movie broadcast on cable TV, the supervisor must reset the ratings limit, set the profile to the parent profile (in a multiple profile system) or completely unlock the system using the password, and then after viewing the NC-17 rated movie, the more restrictive level must be reset so that the children's restriction limit is restored.
Due to the inconvenience of having to reset the ratings limit, view time limit, or spending limit and then having to remember to reset it to the normal limits, a system for temporarily overriding such limits has been invented and is disclosed in copending application entitled RATINGS CONTROL SYSTEM WITH TEMPORARY OVERRIDE CAPABILITY, application Ser. No. 09/475,448, filed on even date herewith, and hereafter referred to as “Override Invention.” With the Override Invention, a supervisor may enter temporary overrides into the system, for example to permit a particular program to be viewed which is outside the normal limits. Such temporary override, for example after the special program has been broadcast, the Override Invention system deletes the override information.